Welcome to the Scientists Imagine resource list!

This is a set of readings and resources related to policy shifts under the second Trump administration that have affected science and scientists. This collection stems from a research project aimed at understanding scientists’ attitudes and responses to these rapid policy shifts.

From April to October 2025, we administered a survey targeting university life scientists about the impacts of changes to research funding policy, immigration policy, and other policies on the practice of science and on scientists’ lives.

One striking finding from this survey was the pervasive sense of powerlessness and demoralization that our participants were experiencing. Simultaneously, many participants were dissatisfied with their home institutions’ responses to federal pressure and stressed about funding their own or their lab members’ salaries. Given these sentiments, we developed the framework below and a resource list for learning and inspiration to help guide scientists’ responses to the current political environment.

A framework for organizing action aimed at making changes over the short-, medium- and long-term. In the immediate term, scientists should continue to prioritize taking care of colleagues in our communities, especially those who feel most vulnerable. Scientists should also begin to organize institutional efforts to safeguard science and campus communities. Departments, university organizations, and academic societies can provide existing infrastructure and support to achieve necessary changes at this intermediate scale. Scientists should also begin to articulate a positive vision for the long-term future, and build solidarity broadly, both within and beyond research communities.

We are inspired by scholar-advocates Stephanie Luce and Deepak Bhargava, who argue that “you can’t build what you can’t imagine.” We intend for this collection of resources to be useful to scientists who wish to learn about the history of research funding, institutional change, and scientist resistance in the U.S. Further, we hope these resources can bolster our community’s efforts to reimagine science as a truly welcoming, stable, publicly funded, and global endeavor in support of the common good.